Inventory Management Apps Compared: Cin7 vs Katana vs Stocky vs inFlow
Running out of stock kills momentum. Overstocking ties up cash. The right inventory app sits in the middle and keeps your numbers accurate across every sales channel.
Inventory management gets messy fast once you sell on more than one channel. Your Shopify store says 12 units, your Amazon listing says 15, and the actual count in your warehouse is 9. Manual spreadsheet tracking works until it does not, and the breaking point usually arrives with an oversell that results in a cancelled order and an angry customer. Dedicated inventory management apps solve this by syncing stock levels in real time across every platform. The challenge is that pricing ranges from free to $800 per month, and feature sets vary dramatically. This comparison covers four of the most popular options in 2026, with honest assessments of where each one excels and where it struggles.
1Cin7: The Enterprise-Ready Option
Cin7 is the most comprehensive inventory management platform on this list. It handles multi-warehouse management, built-in B2B ordering portals, EDI connections for retail partners, and integrations with over 700 third-party apps. If you sell wholesale, retail, and direct-to-consumer across multiple warehouses, Cin7 covers all of it in one system. The Core plan starts at $349 per month, and the Pro plan at $599 per month adds production management and advanced automation.
The platform's strength is its depth. You can set reorder points per SKU per warehouse, automate purchase orders based on sales velocity, and track inventory across manufacturing stages. The B2B portal lets wholesale customers place orders directly, which eliminates manual order entry. For businesses doing over $500,000 in annual revenue with complex fulfillment needs, Cin7 genuinely reduces operational overhead.
The downside is complexity and cost. Cin7 has a steep learning curve that typically requires 2 to 4 weeks of setup and training. The onboarding fee starts at $1,500 for guided implementation, which is a significant upfront investment. Smaller stores with under 500 SKUs and a single warehouse will find most of Cin7's features unnecessary. The interface can feel overwhelming, with dozens of configuration options that enterprise users love but small sellers never touch.
Cin7 also acquired Dear Systems in 2022 and merged the products, which caused some migration issues that users reported through 2024. The platform has stabilized since then, but it is worth testing during the free trial period to confirm that the specific integrations you need work reliably with your setup.
2Katana: Built for Manufacturers and Makers
Katana positions itself as a manufacturing ERP rather than a pure inventory tool. If you make your own products, whether that is cosmetics, food, furniture, or any physical goods, Katana tracks raw materials, production stages, and finished goods in a single workflow. The Starter plan is $179 per month for one user, and the Standard plan at $359 per month adds unlimited users and more advanced features.
The standout feature is the visual production planning board. You can see your manufacturing schedule, available raw materials, and pending orders on one screen. When a Shopify order comes in, Katana automatically checks if you have the raw materials to fulfill it and flags shortages. This prevents the common scenario where you accept an order, start production, and discover you are missing a key component.
Katana integrates directly with Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce. It also connects to QuickBooks and Xero for accounting sync. The Shopify integration is particularly smooth, with real-time stock updates and automatic order import. Setup takes 1 to 2 weeks for most businesses, which is faster than Cin7 but slower than simpler tools.
The limitation is that Katana is designed around manufacturing workflows. If you are a pure reseller buying finished products from suppliers and reselling them, most of Katana's value proposition does not apply. The production planning features sit unused, and you are paying a premium for capabilities you do not need. Resellers are better served by Cin7, inFlow, or even Stocky depending on their platform.
3Stocky: Free Inventory for Shopify POS Users
Stocky is Shopify's own inventory management app, and it comes free with any Shopify POS Pro subscription at $89 per month per location. If you already use Shopify POS for a physical retail location, Stocky adds demand forecasting, purchase order management, and stock transfer tracking at no additional cost. For Shopify-only sellers with a retail presence, this is often the most cost-effective option.
The demand forecasting feature analyzes your sales history and suggests reorder quantities based on sales velocity and lead times. It is not as sophisticated as dedicated forecasting tools, but it covers the basics well enough to prevent most stockout situations. Purchase orders can be created directly within the app and sent to suppliers via email, which eliminates the need for a separate procurement workflow.
Stock transfers between locations are straightforward. If you have a warehouse and a retail store, you can create transfer orders, track items in transit, and update both locations when the transfer completes. Inventory counts support barcode scanning through the Shopify POS hardware, which speeds up physical counts significantly compared to manual entry.
The major limitation is that Stocky only works within the Shopify ecosystem. There is no integration with Amazon, Walmart, Etsy, or any other marketplace. If you sell on multiple platforms, Stocky cannot sync inventory across them. It also lacks manufacturing and production tracking entirely. For single-channel Shopify sellers with a physical location, Stocky is a strong free option. For everyone else, the platform lock-in makes it unsuitable as a primary inventory tool.
4inFlow: Best Value for Small to Mid-Size Sellers
inFlow occupies the middle ground between simple spreadsheet replacements and enterprise systems like Cin7. The Entrepreneur plan starts at $110 per month for one team member and covers up to 100 orders per month. The Small Business plan at $279 per month adds up to 5 team members and 1,000 orders per month. Both plans include unlimited products and locations.
The interface is notably cleaner than Cin7 or Katana. New users can typically navigate the system within a day without formal training. Inventory tracking, purchase orders, sales orders, and basic reporting are all accessible from a single dashboard. The barcode scanning feature works with standard USB and Bluetooth scanners, which streamlines receiving and picking workflows.
inFlow integrates with Shopify, WooCommerce, Amazon, and Squarespace. The multi-channel sync keeps stock levels accurate across platforms, which is the core function most ecommerce sellers need. The Shopify integration updates inventory within a few minutes of a sale, which is fast enough for most businesses unless you are selling extremely high-velocity products where real-time sync matters.
The trade-off is that inFlow lacks the manufacturing depth of Katana and the enterprise features of Cin7. There is no production planning, no B2B portal, and no EDI support. If you need those features, inFlow is not the right fit. But for resellers and dropshippers managing 50 to 5,000 SKUs across 2 to 3 sales channels, inFlow delivers the essential features at a price point that makes sense before you hit enterprise scale.
5How to Choose the Right Inventory App
The decision comes down to three factors: what you sell, where you sell it, and how much operational complexity you currently manage. Start by mapping your actual needs, not the features you think you might use someday.
If you manufacture your own products and need raw material tracking with production planning, Katana is the clear choice. Its manufacturing workflow is genuinely useful and saves time that would otherwise go to spreadsheet management. The $179 per month starting price is justified if you are producing goods regularly and need visibility into material availability.
If you are a Shopify-only seller with a physical retail location already using Shopify POS Pro, start with Stocky. It is free with your existing subscription, handles basic forecasting and purchase orders, and covers single-channel inventory tracking without adding another monthly bill. Graduate to a more robust tool when you expand to additional sales channels.
If you sell on multiple platforms with 50 to 5,000 SKUs and need reliable multi-channel sync without enterprise complexity, inFlow at $110 to $279 per month is the best value. It handles the core inventory functions well, the learning curve is manageable, and the price scales reasonably as your team grows.
If you operate multiple warehouses, sell wholesale alongside DTC, need EDI for retail partners, or manage over 5,000 SKUs, Cin7 at $349 per month and up is built for that level of complexity. The onboarding investment is significant but pays off when your operations genuinely require enterprise-grade inventory management. Do not choose Cin7 because you think you will grow into it. Choose it because your current operations demand it.
6Migration Tips and Common Pitfalls
Switching inventory systems is disruptive, so getting the migration right the first time matters. The most common mistake is migrating with inaccurate data. Before you import anything into a new system, do a full physical inventory count. Importing incorrect stock numbers from your old system into your new system just transfers the problem and creates false confidence in your data.
Export your product catalog from your current platform or spreadsheet and clean it before importing. Standardize SKU formats, remove duplicate entries, and verify that all products have correct unit costs. Most inventory apps accept CSV imports, but the column mapping varies. Test the import with a small batch of 10 to 20 products first to catch formatting issues before uploading your entire catalog.
Run both systems in parallel for at least 2 weeks. Process orders through your new inventory app while keeping your old tracking method active as a backup. Compare stock levels daily between the two systems. Discrepancies during this overlap period reveal integration issues, sync delays, or configuration mistakes that you can fix before fully committing.
Set up reorder alerts and low-stock thresholds as part of your initial configuration, not as an afterthought. Most sellers set up the product catalog and sales channel sync, then forget to configure the preventive features that avoid stockouts. For each SKU, set a reorder point based on your average daily sales multiplied by your supplier lead time in days, plus a safety buffer of 20 to 30 percent. This simple formula prevents the majority of stockout situations.
Finally, designate one person as the inventory system owner. Even in small teams, having one person responsible for data accuracy, configuration changes, and troubleshooting prevents the situation where everyone assumes someone else is managing it. Weekly inventory accuracy checks take 15 to 30 minutes and catch problems before they become customer-facing issues.